Compassion And Choices Partners With Brittany Maynard For Death With Dignity Advocacy

Brittany Maynard is facing an extremely somber choice — the one to end her life legally using death with dignity laws. The story of this 29-year-old’s battle with cancer has sparked a national conversation about end-of-life choices for the terminally ill. Maynard was diagnosed with glioblastoma early in 2014. This is an extremely malignant form of brain cancer, which represents only 17 percent of all primary brain tumors, according to the American Brain Tumor Association. Unfortunately, Maynard’s doctors give her only six months to live from the Stage 4 glioblastoma.

Maynard and her family explored treatment options extensively. They have decided to pursue a voluntary death with dignity option. According to The Brittany Maynard Fund web page, “it means that when her suffering becomes too great, she can call everyone she loves to her side as she tells them she loves them and then say goodbye.” Maynard has partnered with death with dignity advocacy group Compassion and Choices to create this donation fund, so that she could use her story to raise awareness about this end-of-life decision.

Maynard herself appears in a campaign video for Compassion and Choices, so that she can personally explain the difficult decision. The organization notes that “[i]n spite of some profound shyness regarding her new prescription drug-induced appearance, Brittany agreed to be interviewed on film… because her strong belief in the ethics of this basic healthcare human right.”

The six-and-a-half minute campaign video is hard to watch. Maynard describes how she first learned about the malignant tumor shortly after she got married in 2012. However, her terminal diagnosis hasn’t stopped Maynard from traveling and exploring the world. She fondly describes recent trips to Yellowstone with her husband and a visit to Alaska with a friend.

“Before I pass, I’m hoping to make it to the Grand Canyon,” explains Maynard in her campaign video.

USA Today notes that Maynard has also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and participated in multiple half-marathons.

Currently, five states recognize death with dignity, including New Mexico, Vermont, Washington, Montana, and Oregon. The Compassion and Choices awareness campaign targets Colorado, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Connecticut in the hopes that legislators will make the decision to pursue death with dignity laws.

End of life and death with dignity programs are voluntary options aimed at the terminally ill who seek to decrease the physical, mental, and emotional suffering of patients and their families. The Death with Dignity National Center explains that death with dignity options are only provided to patients who have six-months or less to live, so that patients do not make this extremely serious decision too early.

People Magazine explains that Maynard plans to end her life on November 1, two days after her husband’s birthday. On November 1, Maynard plans to be surrounded by her family and medical professionals at home. They have relocated to Portland, Oregon, so that this procedure can be performed under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act.